Asian Le Mans Series Race 4 – Second place confirms GT P/A Championship for SPS Automotive Performance and Mikaël Grenier

A TIE BREAKER WAS NEEDED TO CROWN ASIAN LE MANS SERIES GT P/A CHAMPIONS AS BOTH KESSEL RACING AND SPS AUTOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE WON TWO RACES EACH

Following an eventful race 3 Saturday, today’s race was to determine the Series champions in the different classes. The one we followed was in the GT P/A class with Mikaël Grenier and SPS Automotive Performance. The battle for the championship was to be between Kessel Racing and SPS Automotive Performance.

Having qualified the car in eight place for Race 2, the team elected to have John Loggie to start the race as usual. Penalized at the start of the race for jumping the start, Loggie had a drive through penalty implemented in the first hour. Luckily, championship contender, Kessel Racing, also had an issue at about the same time.

Third after the drive-through penalty, Loggie was lapping faster than the other two drivers in GT P/A and regained the lead before the end of his stint. Taking advantage of a full course yellow, he then was replaced by teammate Valentin Pierburg who kept the car in contention throughout his stint. Towards the end of hour 2, another full courses yellow brought the field together and the team proceeded with a full pit stop and have Mikaël Grenier take over driving duties.

The top three at the time were Kessel Racing’s Ferrari 488 GT3, Herberth Motorsport’s Porsche 911 GT3 R and SPS Automotive Performance.

Grenier did not loose any time and close the gap and passed the second place car and was slowly reeling in the leading no. 57 Ferrari. At the last full course yellow, Grenier was wishing five seconds of the leading GT P/A car. Grenier got really close at times but was surely slowed down during some of the laps to let the LMP2 cars by. It was a cat and mouse race to the checkered flag as Mikaël Grenier finished within a striking distance of Kessel Racing’s Ferrari who crossed the line in first place. Immediately behind was the SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes AMG GT3 of Grenier.

With two race wins for each, the championship winner was decided with who had won first. And with that, SPS Automotive Performance was declared 2022 Asian Le Mans Series GT P/A class winner.

This makes it a second championship in 2022 for Mikaël Grenier as he also helped SunEnergy1 Racing win the Pro/Am Intercontinental GT Championship earlier in the month.

Image: Asian Le Mans Series